China’s military sends 39 warplanes, ships to Taiwan in 24 hours

TIL Desk/World/Beijing/ China’s military sent 39 planes and three ships toward Taiwan in a 24-hour display of force directed at the island, Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Thursday.

China’s military harassment of self-ruled Taiwan, which it claims is its own territory, has intensified in recent years, and the Communist Party’s People’s Liberation Army has sent planes or ships toward the island on a near-daily basis. Between 6 am on Wednesday and 6 am on Thursday, 30 of the Chinese planes crossed the median of the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial boundary once tacitly accepted by both sides, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence.

Those planes flew to the island’s southwest and then horizontally all the way to the southeastern side before doubling back, according to a diagram of the flight patterns provided by Taiwan.  Among the planes were 21 J-16 fighter jets, 4 H-6 bombers and two early-warning aircraft. Taiwan said it monitored the Chinese moves through its land-based missile systems, as well as on its own navy vessels.